The Courage To Say I Love You
by Angel's Angel
Summary: Will I ever have the courage to say I love you after all this time of keeping it to myself? I hope I didn't have any regrets about this. KiriharaOC AkayaOC


_Tenipuri belongs to Konomi-sensei! _

_And this one is gonna be a long one xD Enjoy!_

* * *

><p><em><strong>The Courage to Say 'I Love You'<strong>_

_That day is finally here, 3__rd__ year's graduation day… so it's been 3 years since I've met him and 2 years we played together in a team…_

Kumiko looked down on her lap to see a finished hand-knitten scarf. It's almost the winter season, and she thought perhaps this might be a good gift for Akaya's graduation. Kumiko had made matching mittens out of the leftover wool, and she just hoped that her dear friend would accept her gift.

"I guess tomorrow's gonna be a big day for Kirihara-kun… graduation…" Kumiko felt her eyesight blurred and she quickly wiped her eyes.

"And me… I guess I haven't gotten over my weakness over graduation…" Kumiko then placed the towel and scarf neatly in a box with a previously handwritten card and tied it with yellow and black ribbons.

'_To our bucchou Kirihara Akaya_' was written on top before Kumiko turned towards the picture she had on her desk, the picture they took after they had won the championships that they fought so hard to win after Seigaku took it the previous year. It was a hard match, she had barely won against Momo and his power, but she was lucky she was more agile and had gotten stronger than last year; if she hasn't, she's done for. Then there's Kirihara's match with Kaido, she was a bit worried if Kirihara might have gotten carried away and went into the devil-mode, but her worries were in vain. Ever since that U-17 camp, she was told by everyone that there is this 'angel mode' which made Kirihara's control rocket through the roof and she was thoroughly impressed, although she must admit the blush Kirihara had when their teammates told her about it was rather cute (she had accidentally said it out loud and felt a little bit sorry for the teasing it caused him).

_Angel mode huh?_

"Congratulation on your graduation, Kirihara bucchou, senpai!" Confetti and crackers popped everywhere after the tennis club managed to drag their captain into their clubhouse and started to shower him with confetti. Kumiko stood at the side, scared of being crushed, watching her clubmates all say their congratulation to Kirihara as well as all the 3rd grade students who are graduating. Before she knew it, she was pulled in by her teammates and thrown into the cheering crowd.

"Come on fukubucchou! Kirihara bucchou is leaving, what are you doing standing alone like that? I thought you had something to give him!" Kumiko tried to shushed her cat-calling teammates and suddenly she was pushed towards Kirihara who quickly caught her as usual whenever this happens.

"Hey! What are you doing! I told you to stop pushing her around!" Kirihara barked as everyone laughed.

"Bucchou! Fukubucchou got something to give you!" everyone teased and Kumiko started flailing her arms, trying to stop her teammates from laughing before she stopped and tried to avoid Kirihara's expecting and sparkling eyes.

"Will you guys just shut up about it? It's not that important…"

"Anything fukubucchou gives is important to the captain!" Kumiko tried to stop her face from blushing and couldn't escape before finally she sigh in defeat and placed a box in Kirihara's already waiting arm. Kirihara then looked towards the box in excitement before up towards Kumiko who is turning her face away in embarrassment.

"Here, this is from all of us."

"But Tezuka fukubucchou's the one who made it!" One yelled in the midst of the crowd as everyone burst out laughing while nodding in agreement.

"You guys forced me to it!" Kumiko countered as everyone laughed even harder.

"So… can I open it now?"

"Open it bucchou! Open it!" Kirihara then started to untie the ribbons as Kumiko decided to lash out on her still laughing friends.

"You guys better appreciate the fact that I was willing to do it on my own! Do you know how hard it is?" Kumiko said before someone pulled her into a hug. Kumiko's face then turned bright red and everyone started to catcall and whistle at them.

"Thanks, I'll take good care of it." Kirihara said, making Kumiko's face flush even darker.

"We'll leave you two alone~" Kumiko then saw all her friends walking out from the clubhouse, some giving their thumbs up at her some grinned at Kirihara before everyone left, leaving both of them behind.

"Mou… what was that for…" Kumiko said when Kirihara finally released her from his arms.

"Did you really make this on your own?" Kirihara asked, lifting the scarf and mittens out from the box.

"I… kind of ask kaa-chan how to knit… it's not that good compared to the factory-made ones, but everyone insisted on hand-made scarf. And since I'm the only girl as well as the fukubucchou, they decided that I should make it, saying that you'll appreciate it more." Kumiko said as Kirihara blushed a little before lifting the mittens and tried it on his hand.

"I made that out of the leftover wool I had… I actually bought some more since I could only make one mitten out of the leftovers. We all thought since its almost winter, scarf might be the best present to give to you."

"…"

"I know it's bad, but this is my first time in knitting, although kaa-chan said it's good enough for a beginner…" Kirihara said Kumiko fidgets and couldn't help but gave her a hug.

"I love it, thanks a lot, especially from you." Kirihara said, hugging Kumiko a little closer as Kumiko decided to wrap her arms around her dearest friend, burying her face on his arm.

"Take good care of it okay? If you throw it away, I won't talk to you anymore."

"G-Geh?" Kirihara then lifted his head in surprise before noticing the slight blush his vice-captain has on her face. Kirihara then smiled and hugged her once again.

"I promise."

"So, what are you going to do when you enter high school?" Kumiko and Kirihara are now walking together through the barricade of trees, as Kirihara would put it, to see if their lovely senpais are somewhere here to congratulate him for graduating. The leaves are falling, Kumiko and Kirihara had fun for a while after laughing at each other when leaves started falling on top of their heads as well as when they started to push each other to fall on top of the leaves. It was inevitable when Kirihara managed to get her to fall first, but then Kumiko got him back when she pulled him down when he held his hand out to help her up.

"Come on, you said we're going to look for senpai-tachi if they're here for your graduation! Or are we here to play on the leaves?"

"… Both?" Both Kirihara and Kumiko laughed together and leaned back towards the pile of leaves, looking up towards the tree branch.

"I'm going to be with the senpai-tachi again, can you pray for me so I won't get a slap on my first day?" Kirihara said, clasping his hands in front of him as Kumiko laughed.

"Well, if you behave more, I think Genichirou-senpai will spare you for your first day."

"You know… now that I think about it, you called everyone by their first name… I know you called bucchou and fukubucchou by their names, but now you called everyone by their first name…"

"Seiichi-senpai told me to do that when they graduate, I thought you knew?" Kumiko then noticed Kirihara's red face and remembered both of their seniors graduation day.

"… You were crying a lot, weren't you, Kirihara-kun?"

_Hey…_

"I guess I did… so…!" Kirihara then turned towards Kumiko only to froze when he saw tears trailing down from Kumiko's eyes.

_It's weird…_

_Why do I feel so… sad?_

"Kumiko… are you alright…?"

_Oh yeah… Kirihara-kun is graduating…_

"I'm okay, I'm just… bad at handling graduation…" Kumiko tried, furiously trying to wipe her tears before a pair of arms pulled her into an embrace. Kumiko felt her eyes blurring even worse and tried to hold back a sob as Kirihara leaned his face on top of her head.

"You're really bad at graduation, aren't you?"

"Oh shut up…" Kumiko sobbed as she gripped tightly onto Kirihara's jersey. Kirihara then patted Kumiko's back as the girl tried to control her sobs before she pulled back, wiping her tears.

"You know… I've wanted to tell you something since quite a long time. I was afraid it might be awkward…"

"I don't mind making cakes for you…" Kumiko said, making Kirihara blush in embarrassment. Kumiko was patting her cheeks before hands grabbed her shoulder and she came face to face with Kirihara.

"No! It's not about that! But… really? You won't mind?"

"Maximum of 3 cakes a month. Medium sized one. And what do you want to say again…?" Kirihara's face then burned bright red and Kumiko frowned.

"Kirihara-kun, your face is kind of red, are you alright? Are you cold?" Kumiko was about to touch Kirihara's face but the boy backed away before she could, making Kumiko froze on the ground, blinking at Kirihara who was breathing heavily as if he's been running around the world.

"N-No… it's just… umm… I'm really going to get into trouble if senpai know this…" Kirihara said to himself as Kumiko stood up and dusted off the leaves from her uniform.

"Kirihara-kun, are you sure you're al-…" "_**I like you!**_"

_H-Huh…?_

"… I really like you, ever since last year… or maybe when I first met you… but I really really like you…"

_This is just a dream… right…? Kirihara-kun…_

"Kumiko, I'm sorry… I know this is sudden, but…!" Kirihara then stopped talking when he saw tears trickling down Kumiko's face and quickly ran to embrace the girl before panicking when Kumiko's tears fell even more.

"H-Hey! Kumiko! I'm sorry… I…" Kumiko quickly shook her head and wiped her tears before hugging the surprised and blushing Kirihara.

"I… I really like you too…" Kumiko said, face reddening.

"Eh…?"

"I thought it'd be awkward to tell since we're in the same team… I thought it'll be better if I don't say it at all…" Both Kumiko and Kirihara 's eyes then met and both of them looked away in embarrassment.

"… So now I can hug you more often, right?" Kirihara said as both of them turned towards each other. Kumiko then shyly nod as Kirihara's mouth formed into a smile and grows bigger by the second before he wrapped his arms around Kumiko and hugged her tightly before happily leaned his forehead against hers.

"Can you call me by my first name now, Kumiko?"

"Yes, Akaya." Kumiko said as Akaya grinned and both of them smiled towards one another.

"So… can I get a kiss?" Kumiko pulled back red faced as she stared at the grinning Kirihara.

"Just once? Please?" Kirihara pleaded as Kumiko shook her head vigorously, trying to break away from Kirihara.

"No! You cannot!" Both Kumiko and Kirihara then jumped when they saw Sanada suddenly standing up from behind a pile of leaves and both turned away from each other, face red of embarrassment.

"Aww, Sanada, you ruined the fun! It was getting interesting too…" Niou said, following Sanada's example of standing up from the bush, followed by the rest of Kirihara and Kumiko's previous teammates.

"E-Everyone! Even Yukimura bucchou! What are you doing here?" Kirihara shouted as Kumiko bowed, couldn't find her voice to say anything as a greeting as she was too embarrassed to say anything.

"We were watching our two cute juniors, of course. We were waiting for both of you and we saw you two here, so we decided to stick around and watch." Marui said, blowing and popping his bubblegum.

"Y-You were watching?" Kirihara said after he has finally gotten over his shock over the presence of all his old teammates in front of him. Yukimura and then others have all approached both the dazed Kirihara and Kumiko at the time when they were still in shock.

"All of it. Puri." Niou said as Kumiko started to turn around in panic and stutters nonsense.

"Don't worry, there's no one here aside from us though. But I must say, congratulations, I thought this day wouldn't come." Yagyuu said, placing his hands on Kumiko's shoulder, successfully stopping the girl from stuttering nonsense.

"I… I…"

"But you really did tell her at your graduation! Talk about taking a long time…"

"But Kumiko's reason about it being awkward since they're in the same team does makes sense."

"That's our Kumiko alright." Yukimura said as Kumiko blushed and started to play with her fingers.

"Before we forget, congratulation again on winning the Nationals, you did us proud. And of course… congratulations for graduation, Akaya!" Everyone then looked at one another before turning to the confused Kirihara as they all grinned at her before Kumiko understood what they meant and proceed to give a hug to Kirihara who looked down at Kumiko with a blush and let out a yell when everyone decided to make it a group hug, burying Kirihara under the pile of bodies.

"So, how does it feel, graduating?" Niou said as Jackal helped the squished Kumiko up on her feet, together with Yagyuu who plucked the leaves out from her hair. Kirihara turned towards Kumiko who is smiling and laughing together with the others and smiled blissfully.

"I'm as happy as I'll ever be." Niou then followed Kirihara's line of vision and whistled before a light blub appeared above his head.

"Akaya, you do remember that you're graduating and won't see her often when you enter school, right?" Kirihara then froze and turned to Niou with a frightened expression that made the watching Yukimura chuckle as Sanada sighs and Yanagi nodded.

"Niou's right, you are after all, a high school student now."

"And not to mention Kumiko's leading a club of _**all boys**_ tennis." Marui said as sweats appeared behind Kirihara's back.

"You really didn't think about this, did you? That's just like you." Yanagi said. Kirihara then pulled his knees up and burrowed his face between his knees.

"O-Oi! Kumiko! We need help here! Niou just broke your boyfriend!" Kumiko snapped her head towards her_ boyfriend_ (That felt new to her, the word boyfriend) and sweatdropped when she saw him all curled up.

"What did you do to him, Haru-senpai…"

* * *

><p><em>Read and review everyone~!<em>

_See? I told you this will be a long one..._

_I wanted to make an omake, but perhaps later... I can practically see an omake xD_

_I hope you guys enjoyed it~_

_Love, Angel's angel xD_


End file.
